Unfiltered & Undressed (The Unfiltered Series) (12 page)

The darkness inside the cab made it hard to see, but I knew she wasn’t looking at me. “Why’s that?” I asked.

She rolled her head away, so she was facing the window. “Because it makes it harder.” There was a tremor in her words, and she sighed. “I meant it, Will, what I said at the bar.” There was a long, stretched out silence, and then she said, “I need you to just stay away from me.”

LAUREN

I barely made it out of bed without throwing up again. If it hadn’t been for the crackers and soda on my nightstand I probably wouldn’t even have tried. It took several seconds sitting upright for my head, and the room, to stop spinning.

Despite the raging headache, I remembered everything with appalling high-def clarity, all starting with Will strutting in and challenging me to a game of pool, and going downhill from there.

I still had no idea what possessed him to swoop in and save me the way he did, but I’d been grateful when I’d inhaled that intoxicating scent of Irish Spring and sweat and realized I was buried in the circle of his arms. “You’re safe,” his voice had crooned from above me, and even though “safe” wasn’t the word I’d have chosen, I’d let him carry me anyway, because at least in those few minutes when I was in his arms the world had stopped spinning.

I remembered, too, the way he’d practically babied me, stopping to buy me Saltines and ginger ale, and giving me the shirt, literally, off his back, because I couldn’t stomach the smell of my own dress. The icing on the cake was that I hadn’t even blinked about stripping down in front of him, something I’d never have done if I’d been thinking clearly.

At least not without the anonymity of a webcam to shield me.

I had to remind myself that Will was a no-good cheating ass, which only triggered up my stomach acids all over again, and I had to take several more bites of the crackers and wash them down with the nearly flat soda.

After my shower and two cups of black coffee, I stuffed the paperwork Mr. Wall had given me the day before into my purse. It was my first day at the West Beach Rec Center, and the last thing I needed was for him to think I was a complete flake.

Besides, better to face a bunch of kids with this pounding headache than to stay here and risk being grilled by Emerson about what she thought was going on between Will and me.

‡

It didn’t take long before I realized I was spinning my wheels. I could no more teach these kids the basics of computers on the relics we were provided than I could connect to the Internet using rocks and string.

I looked at one of the ancient machines and wondered where they’d dug these things up. Or rather from which archeological dig.

Glancing out at the hopeful faces staring back at me, my heart squeezed. I’d never done anything like this before, and I was surprised by how quickly I felt a sense of obligation toward these kids. They weren’t like me. I might not have been the richest kid in town, but I’d never wanted for anything. My dad was a dentist and my mom was a real estate agent, and they worked hard to provide the things we needed. And then some.

I knew the second I walked into this room that these kids had lived a different kind of life than I had. From a show of hands, I’d learned that none of them had computers at home, and that only two of them, out of the eight in this class, had spent any time on computers at all. And those two spent most of their screen time playing online games.

The problem was, we lived in a world ruled by technology. By their age, most kids had regular access to PCs, laptops, and tablets. Heck, most had their own cell phones.

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. I needed a new game plan, a way to get the kind of equipment these kids would need to get the leg up they deserved.

A boy who was sitting at the front, wearing a shirt several sizes too large for him and threadbare jeans stared at me through narrow slits. “Do I need to call Mr. Wall or something? You don’t look so good.”

I laughed. “I’m fine. Okay, here’s the deal. I’m cutting class short today, but I want you guys back here first thing tomorrow. We’re gonna try this again, alright?”

Several of the kids looked suspicious as they exited the classroom, but it was the same look they’d given me coming in, like they were automatically wary of any authority figures. It amused me to think of myself like that—an authority figure. I was the last person anyone should be looking up to.

After giving Mr. Wall a not-so-farfetched excuse that I felt sick but promising to come in early the next day, I made a quick escape.

I was practically giddy by the time I got home, even though I snuck inside, careful to avoid drawing attention from either Zane, who might be outside since he lived right next door with Lucas, or Emerson, who might be inside, because she was, well, my roommate and all. But I got in and out in a flash, leaving no evidence I’d ever been there at all.

When I pulled into the parking lot of the closest electronics store my phone’s GPS had located, I considered my options.

This was where things got sticky.

There was no way I could walk into that big chain box store and pay for ten laptops in cash without drawing suspicion. Whether that suspicion actually led anywhere or not, I wasn’t about to take the chance.

But I also wasn’t backing out now. I was getting these kids their computers even if it meant going store to store for the rest of the day. Which was pretty much what I did, buying one laptop at a time, and paying with hundred dollar bills at ten different retailers, ranging from Walmart to Staples to Fry’s. By the time I was finished, the trunk of my car was filled and I’d burned through upwards of ten thousand dollars.

I was seriously looking forward to tomorrow.

WILL

The pounding interrupted one of the first wet dreams I’d had since I was sixteen years old, when I’d first discovered I could convince girls to do to me the things I’d only been doing to myself for years.

This particular dream involved being buried between Lauren’s thighs, while her legs wrapped around my hips, insisting I thrust deeper and drive harder and grind in time with her. It was so real, in fact, that the smell of her was all around me, clinging to me.

Until reality crashed my little party and the banging coming from the front door interrupted us. That was when I realized that the smell was real—her yellow dress from the other night was still crumpled in a wad on my bedroom floor, where I’d thrown it when I’d come inside. And the smell wasn’t necessarily a good one.

I’d meant to talk to Lauren when I’d given her a ride home that night, to tell her I wanted to start again so we could do things differently. Instead, she’d made her feelings for me clear: She never wanted to see me again.

She didn’t say why, exactly, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to force myself on someone who clearly couldn’t stand me.

Still, I’d never be able erase what I’d seen before she told me she wanted me to stay away from her, when she’d stripped out of her dress. With only those lacy panties covering her…

Damn. It was hard to stop thinking about all the things I wanted to do to her. Even knowing how she felt about me. I couldn’t help it, and I didn’t want to. I wanted to put my hands on her…my mouth.

To part her legs and…

Fuck!
I rolled out of bed, rubbing my hand over my cock to make my hard-on go down.

“Hold your fucking horses! I’m coming!” I winced from the early morning sun coming through the shades. The banging was sure to wake Tess, if it hadn’t already. “What?” I swung the door wide, only to find myself facing Camden, his unwashed, greasy gray hair sticking out in every direction. He was skinnier now—hard living had taken its toll—but he was still the same Cam he’d always been, and my reaction was just as visceral as it had been when I’d up and left all those years ago.

I’d never understood why my mom had let him keep coming back—brother or not, he was a leech who never gave a shit about anyone but himself.

Camden tried to push inside, but I pushed back, not wanting Tess to even know he was here. I dragged him around the corner of the house by one of his scrawny arms, not caring if I snapped it in the process. “What do you want, Cam?” My voice was low, but I doubted he’d missed the warning in it.

He rubbed the scruff on his jaw. “You know what I want,” he protested, looking in several directions at once. That was the thing, he could never stop looking for the angle. Even now, he was trying to figure out if there was a way push my buttons so he could get what he wanted.

“I already gave you everything I have.”

“I need more.” He pulled his pockets inside out. “You’re leaving me no choice, Billy.” The pathetic whine of his voice made my skin crawl. He glanced over my shoulder, a sly smile making an appearance, and I turned in time to see Tess standing there on the sidewalk in only her sleep-shirt.

The worried expression on her face made me see red.

I seized a handful of his shirt and dragged him to me. “Listen, you piece of shit, I gave you what I had, now leave us the fuck alone. If I see you around here again, I’m gonna break the last of those festering teeth outta your mouth.” I shoved him away and he fell to the ground.

“You’re leaving me no choice, Billy. I’m gonna have to go to court and make this thing legal.”

I turned my back on him, afraid of what I’d do if I didn’t get out of there right that second, because I didn’t just want to smash his teeth in. I wanted to crack his fucking skull open.

Instead, I wrapped my arm around my little sister and drew her away from our simpering uncle. “There’s always a choice, Cam. And if you think there’s a court in the world who’ll grant some loser drug addict full custody, then go for it.”

We rounded the corner and went inside the house. Yet even when the door was closed, we could hear him, shouting about suing and moving Tess away from here and how he would ruin our lives.

I was sure I was right, about the fact that no court would give him custody of Tess because of his situation. But what I wasn’t so sure about was what would happen to Tess if he followed through on his threats.

What I wanted was for Cam to sign guardianship of her over to me; that way, no one would look into who was fit or unfit. There would be no questions about where I’d been all those years while she’d been growing up, or how I was planning to take care of her needs now—the expenses involved in raising her going forward—because none of those questions would be easy to answer.

And what if opening that can of worms meant that the courts decided to take her away from me?

Tess looked at me, that same
What are we gonna do?
expression she’d been wearing ever since the day I’d gotten back here.

“I told you. I got this. He can’t hurt us,” I promised for the millionth time. And, Jesus-to-fucking-Christ, I hoped it was true.

LAUREN

“Lucas!” Even though he was our next door neighbor, and Em’s new boyfriend, I was more than a little surprised to find him standing right outside my door when I burst out of the house that morning. I wanted everything to go perfectly, and I’d been running over my plan again and again in my head.

Lucas was polishing—or waxing or whatever—a surfboard that was perched against the side of our house. “You’re up early…” I must have looked guilty when I glanced around to see if Zane was with him, because Lucas grinned at me when he offered, “Don’t worry, he’s at work. I just wanted to get in a few waves while Emerson was still crashed.” I immediately relaxed, and he went back to buffing the long board. “Did you know she snores?”

“How could I not know?”

I nodded toward the board. “Well, have fun with that.” I was about to go when he flipped it around, and something about the board make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I gave it a second glance, tilting my head for a better look. “Isn’t that…” I started. “That sorta looks the same as Will’s surfboard.”

Lucas’s chest puffed up as he put his hand on it possessively. “It is. Well, was.” He tapped something scrawled along the bottom left edge. “That’s his autograph, right there. Billy Gabaldon. “

I leaned closer, squinting so I could make out the name.

“Why do
you
have it?”

“Bought it.”

Frowning, I did a double take. “Why?”

“Because it’s
Billy Gabaldon’s
board. Why
wouldn’t
I buy it?”

I thought about what my real question was, and tried again. “Why was he selling it?”

Lucas ran an appreciative hand over the green and yellow pattern. “I dunno. For Tess, probably.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. There was that name again—
Tess
. I needed to get out of there.

But Lucas stopped me. “How much do you know about him? Billy, I mean?”

I blew out a breath to make it clear I was put out by this conversation. “I know he doesn’t like to be called Billy,” I said irritably. “And that he was some kind of surfer and he gave it all up for this Tess girl.”

Lucas frowned at me. “I mean, yeah, sorta . That’s about half right. He was a surfer—a really great one. There was no one like him. He got more tunnel love than anyone I ever saw.”

“Tunnel love?”

“Dude could ride the inside of a wave—the tunnel—like nobody’s business. Fuckin’ awesome, if you ask me!”

I had to laugh at Lucas’s enthusiasm. No wonder he bought the board. “Got it.”

“I still can’t believe he had to give it up. I was hopin’ it was only temporary. That he’d heal and be back at it, ya know?”

“Nope. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“From the blowout,” he prompted. And when I just shook my head, he elaborated. “His knee. Fucked it up real bad riding a barrel off the North Shore. From what I hear now though, that wipeout killed his career.”

I was even more disgusted by his decision now than I had been before, but at least it made some sense. No one gave up world-class competitions over a girl. But with a blown knee and no other prospects, his ex would be an easy fallback.